hypertension

Hypertension is a high resting arterial blood pressure. The problem with defining hypertension as a disease state rises from the fact that, in the population, blood pressure varies from person to person with the distribution approaching that of a Bell curve.

Any cut off point to define hypertension is arbitrary as the
higher the blood pressure, the higher the risks. Even a person with
an averageblood pressure would reduce their risk by
anti-hypertensive treatment. In an attempt to balance the risks
and costs of treatment with the benefits, A cut off point for
treatment of > 140 mmHg systolic or > 90 mmHg diastolic (see
measuring blood pressure) is used in practice. Although
hypertension seems to increase naturally with age, treating a
given blood pressure has more benefit in an elderly person.